Résumé / Abstract Journal-club_GReCO

Séminaire / Seminar GReCO

« When Newton Mimics Einstein: Carter constants of the motion in Newtonian gravitation and General Relativity »

C. M. Will

Newtonian gravity exhibits phenomena that mimic or anticipate general relativistic phenomena, such as black holes (proposed by Michel in 1784) and big bang cosmology. Because the physics behind these Newtonian arguments is fundamentally wrong, these cases are usually viewed as flukes (coup de chance) or mere coincidences. In this talk, we present another example. We ask whether there exist in Newtonian theory, stationary axisymmetric systems that admit a third constant of the motion, analogous to the Carter constant of the Kerr black-hole geometry. The answer, which is shocking, could be useful, or just a another fluke. We also discuss the observational relevance of achieving a deeper understanding of the behavior of particles orbiting rotating black holes, namely in the inspiral of a small compact object into a massive rotating black hole, an important class of gravitational-wave sources for LISA, and in efforts to test the black hole no-hair theorems by studying stars orbiting the galactic center black hole SgrA*.
lundi 22 juin 2009 - 11:00
Salle des séminaires Évry Schatzman
Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
Pages web du séminaire / Seminar's webpage